Leslie Kelly

Welcome to Day 2 of our Advent(cheer)! As I said before, God gave me this idea to do an act of kindness every day for the month of December leading up to Christmas. We will probably continue through the 12 Days of Christmas, which ends January 5, which is Epiphany. Want to know more about the 12 Days of Christmas? Check here http://www.12daysbook.com/ for the great book my dear friend (the one moving to NC :( next summer) and I wrote.

 Today we took homemade cookies and fudge to our friends at Tijuana Flats, where we eat lunch almost every Tuesday. (Tuesday is "Taco Tuesday" where you get two tacos, chips and a drink for $5.49. They're yummy and filling and it doesn't break the bank!)

The cookies we made are the delicious recipe I found on http://thepioneerwoman.com/ She featured them several years ago on her Christmas blog. But they actually came from http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/  They are delicious, easy to make, and the cookies she makes are absolutely the most fun I have ever seen. Her royal icing is perfection, and she shows how to make "flood" icing that works exactly like she says it will. It is a great website for the cookie baker in anyone.

The fudge we made is the kind made from marshmallow fluff, just the recipe off the back of the fluff container. I have made pounds and pounds of fudge in my lifetime and that recipe has never failed. I suppose that it why it is called, "Never Fail Fudge." We added walnuts to some, but left some plain. It makes 5 pounds(!) so there is plenty to share! (The picture is only about half of what we made. I had already shared some yesterday at Vinceramos, and my kids have been munching on it all day!)

God gave me a spectacular idea for this season. It was inspired by the video "Make a Bad Day Good". If you haven't seen it, you can go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqvTJSPwqt4 It is fantastic! And it made me think: "We should do this sometime." And God spoke to my heart and made me think, " why don't we do this for Advent? A small act of kindness every day leading up to Christmas. It will help us focus on giving, instead of getting, and help us to serve instead of expecting to be served.

So we had a family meeting and came up with dozens of ideas we are going to impliment. Anything from donating to the local animal shelters, to baking cookies or goodies and giving them to our neighbors when we go Christmas caroling.

We would LOVE to have you join us on our Advent Cheer journey. Our Adventcheer. (God just gave me that as I was writing this!) Even if you cannot do it everyday like we are, you can do something to spread some Christmas Cheer. If you decide to join in or want to follow us, check back here, or at #adventcheer on twitter. By the way, you can follow me @damazingmama on twitter, too. Maybe you can only do something once a week. That's ok. Just try to do something. Anything to lift another person's load. Becasuse we all get weary on this road we are traveling. But it makes me feel so glad to make someone else's day just a little bit brighter. Thats how it works. We all get weary. We all need to be cheered, and to do the cheering. So lets start a movement. Spread some Christmas Cheer! As as we are spreading the joy around, we are being the hands and feet of Jesus. Because He is the one we are here for. And don't we want to have opportunities to love people like He loves? And this is the perfect way to do it. Maybe He will even open the door to lead someone to Himself. That would be phenominal. Either way, we are "Jesus with skin on" to someone. This is going to be good. And I can't wait!! Please leave a comment if you decide to join us. We would love to follow your journey, too.

Today, we went to Vinceramos. It is an Equine Therapy center for handicapped children. I will post the video tomorrow. Suffice it to say, it was a great experience. Tomorrow, we are going to Tijuana Flats Restaurant for lunch, and we will be taking them goodies from our kitchen to share in theirs. We eat there most every Tuesday, and we appreciate them for serving us every week. They love to get goodies from us, since we have taken them to them several times in the past. And they always appreciate being remembered. Just like everyone else does.

So some days you may get 2 or more posts. I will let you know as they happen!  

Well, here we are in December again, and I have several treats for you this month. 

First of all, I have some guest posts for you sprinkled throughout this month. They are memories of Christmases past, Christmas presents, and Christmases yet to be. If you like to write, and would like to write a guest post for this blog, be sure to email me soon. I would love to feature your memories and thoughts here.

Our first guest post will be tomorrow. It is from a wonderful writer, Jessica Fisher. I met her online through a Facebook group I am in, called Journaling Bible Community . 

This is my favorite group on Facebook, because of the encouragment and heart-to-heart connections over art, journaling, and God's Word. 

Jessica is a young wife and mother of a rambunctious toddler, and I think you will be blessed by her post tomorrow.

Just a quickie today, because I have so much to tell you all, but I have to take the time to write it all out in bite sized portions. However, my life is so full, up to the brim with wonder and amazement that I am so excited to share. But for now, I made the most delicious banana yummies the other day and I wanted to share the recipe with you so that the next time you have browning bananas that your kiddos won't eat, and you are tired of the wonderful, but same old banana bread, these bars will knock your socks off. And DO NOT make them without the frosting. They are just plain 'ole banana something without it. And I am telling you, you do not want to miss out on the most delicious frosting/glaze. It is wonderful. Like, take a bath in it wonderful. And fairly simple, too. One thing that I did differently, though. I did the brown butter just like she said, and then added the powdered sugar to the pan. I did not carefully measure the sugar. I just dumped in a couple of scoops, and then had to add a bit more milk than she did. And I used vanilla bean paste. If you don't have any, run now to the store to get some. It is amazing. I think HomeGoods usually has it for fairly cheap. That is where I got mine. And I also used vanilla bean powder, which is an item that is new to my skill set. I got it at Shoppe 561. Don't know about 561?? Well, it is my new favorite place to shop for unique hand crafted items by local artisans. And the proceeds go to Hope House, a place for victims of sex trafficking. So a win-win! Shoppe 561 is on the corner of Belvedere and Dixie, for you locals. Check out their website: http://www.shoppe561.com/

Back to the banana bars. I got the recipe off Pinterest, but to save you the trouble of finding it, I thought I would just link it up. So here you go:

http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/10/banana-bread-bars-with-vanilla-bean-browned-butter-glaze.html

Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did. In fact, my husband who is not a banana fan, said they were delicious. That the glaze was so delicious and just the right amount to make the banana flavor not the dominant but the browned butter balanced it all out. So coming from him, thats a compliment. I tried another banana recipe that he loved too. I will have to share that sometime. But for now, enjoy!

As some of you know, I like to write a "December Daily" devotional on my blog/website. I wish I could say that I blog every day in December, but usually it ends up being more like 2-3 times a week. 

But this year, I am planning ahead. Ok, not that much ahead, but hey, its a start!! 

And that is where you come in. I would like to have some guest posts mixed in throughout the month. So if you have ever written anything, or dreamed of being a writer, here is your chance!!

I truly believe everyone has a story to tell, and it is time to tell yours.

You may be thinking: what in the world can I write about? Well, I am glad you thought that! Here are some "guidelines".